Clearview: A series of complaints against the American big brother

Clearview AI, the US company that developed the controversial facial recognition technology, has carried out illegal “mass surveillance” in Canada, according to an investigation report released by the Canadian Privacy Commission. The report notes that the U.S. company has created a database of “more than three billion face pictures” including many Canadians and children. Canadian police officers and private organizations approached it without the consent of individuals.

The report recommended that the company complete the package and remove the images it had already collected, but Clearview declined to comment, saying “its actions have not caused any harm to the public.”

Last summer, UK and Australian data security regulators announced they would launch a similar joint investigation into “web scraping” used by the company, namely the automatic information retrieval of a website.

On the French side, the complaint was filed in July 2020.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to accept a complaint from Uber drivers who wanted to force California to reject a law approved by a November referendum that would allow drivers to replace employees with independent status. California passed the “AB5” Act in 2019, which came into force in 2020. It ordered companies in the “kick economy” to treat their self-employed as employees and to provide them with social benefits. Accordingly (unemployment and health insurance, etc.). But Uber and the elevator and other services refused to comply. They lost the battle in the Court of Appeals last October, but were allowed to go to the polls until November 3. However, the Californians decided, and 58% voted in favor of the compromise proposal 22 proposed by the companies. So California drivers retain their self-employment status, but benefit from flexible working hours and some compensation (minimum income, contribution to health insurance and other insurance).